A dire mistake
by possibly Gigan
Summary: ADVENT has been gone for ten years. In that time, the commander had gotten married, had three kids, and got things as close to what they were before the invasion as possible. But what happens when a new foe appears and tries to destroy it all? Thus, XCOM fought.
1. Hell's wrath

**So… this is a thing.**

**I really don't know what the hell I'm doing with this. I had an idea and I acted upon it. And please read the ANs, they exist for a reason. Now then, without any other bullshit for me to spout, let's begin**

**I don't own shit of X-COM 2, WOTC, Alien Hunter, whatever, only the OC's**

(LINE BREAK)

The year is 2045, ten years since the defeat of ADVENT and the liberation of the human race. Thanks to the actions of the organization known as XCOM and their commander, the extremely powerful psions known as the elders and their chosen were defeated. The true turning point, however, was the alien race known as the vipers betraying ADVENT and realigning themselves with XCOM, upon their queen's orders. They had done this when the second chosen, the hunter, was slain. It was a sign to the reptilian race that they could escape from the clutches of the elders. With assistance from XCOM, they saved the few male vipers that ADVENT hadn't culled. Thanks to XCOM's chief scientist Dr. Richard Tygan, the male gender of the vipers were making a comeback, something the elders had suppressed to control the race better. Dr. Tygan also discovered all male vipers have cryogenic abilities, and all female vipers have pyrogenic abilities, much like the viper king made by presumed dead Dr. Vahlen. With the assistance of the reptilian race, now with the inhibitors placed by ADVENT gone, the combined forces made quick work of the final chosen, the warlock, and the elders themselves.

During all this, the commander of XCOM and the viper queen discovered the growing emotions for each other. At first, they went against them, they had demonized each other's race for years, and now they wanted to be with each other? But eventually, they gave in and began dating, even though they could only go to the bar on the _Avenger_. And after the elders were dead, the commander proposed to the queen of the vipers, who happily accepted. A year later, and the viper gave birth to triplets, a female human, but with the pyrogenic abilities, semi-clawed fingers for climbing, and stretchy tongue of a viper (the commander didn't ask to save himself the headache). And two male vipers, but with somewhat more human faces, and they had more potential for muscular growth than most vipers. A month after that, the commander volunteered for a genetic editing experiment proposed by Dr. Tygan that lets humans have either cryogenic or pyrogenetic abilities. It worked, and now the commander could freeze foes solid. The two military leaders thought they could have a somewhat normal life now with their kids, but on the tenth anniversary of their marriage and the freeing of earth, that hope was crushed.

(present time, the home of the commander and queen of the vipers, three miles outside Houston, Texas)

Jarik Godson, better known as the commander of XCOM, woke up next to his wife, Sscantha (AN: pronounced sa-can-tha), or the queen of the vipers. She was still asleep, but she had her tail curled around her husband's body lovingly, more out of instinct than anything else. Her scales, instead of the typical orange, black, and white, was replaced with crimson, forest green, and dark blue respectively. Though he couldn't see them, Jarik knew her eyes to be a supposed to be impossible violet. '_Heh, can't believe we've been married for ten years now when we hated each other at first.' _Jarik thought to himself as he leaned in and kissed the viper queen on the lips. After wiggling out of Sscantha's grasp without waking her (being married to a clingy viper, he figured out how to do this early on), Jarik went to the bathroom to have his morning shower. As he was waiting for the water to heat up, he looked at himself in the mirror. What looked back was a muscular man that looked to be in his early twenties, but was chronologically around fifty, the de-aging was a gift from the gene therapy clinics that ADVENT left behind. He had jet black hair and green eyes, and hard features. A slash scar, courtesy of the chosen assassin, was on his face, starting at his lower left jaw and ending on his upper right forehead. While some would want to hide it, he wore it with pride, a badge showing he fought and killed a chosen alongside his men, and Sscantha told him it made him more attractive.

A few seconds after he entered the shower, he heard the tell-tale slithering of a snake. The now fogged glass door opened to show his wife, putting on a fake hurt look. "Leaving me alone in bed, my little heat stone? You wound me so." Sscantha teased. Jarik chuckled and hugged the viper close. "Well, it _is _the anniversary of our marriage and the defeat of the elders, my pet. Forgive me if I don't want to smell awful for the party." He joked. After they had washed up and the couple went downstairs, Jarik went into the kitchen to make breakfast while Sscantha went to watch TV in the living room. "Could you wake the kids up? Breakfast is almost ready." Jarik asked his wife a few minutes later. She sighed and went back upstairs to wake the children. Jarik had the standard setup for breakfast: eggs and bacon, orange juice for the kids and coffee for the adults, and a full steak for Sscantha. Seconds later, the commander's three children came downstairs as fast as their legs and tails could carry them. The first one was the human of the trio, and the only girl as well. She has amber eyes, soft features, and red hair, Jarik and Sscantha named her Samantha. The two lagging behind were vipers and the little girl's brothers. The first one had bright green eyes and crimson, green, and blue scales, much like his mother's. The second one had scales of grass green, sea blue, and snow white, and with blue eyes. They are named Jacob and Kile respectively. Sscantha followed behind the trio of nine-year-olds.

"Daddy! Will you bring us to the big airship today?" Samantha asked excitedly. Jarik had been promising to take the children aboard the _Avenger _for a few weeks now. The man ruffled his daughter's hair while smiling. "Yep, I'll bring you aboard the _Avenger _today." Jarik confirmed, much to his children's delight. As the family ate breakfast, the commander told stories from when he was a US Army Ranger and green beret. Not long after they finished eating, the skyranger known as Firebrand landed on the road and opened its bay door. Jarik grabbed his personal Psi-Amp, the elders wanted him as a chosen as well, a psion to surpass the warlock, to be specific. His psionics carried over to his children, but they hadn't awakened yet. "Heya commanders, kids. You ready to go to the _Avenger_?" The pilot, Kriss, asked, receiving five nods in response.

(Fifteen minutes later, Avenger landing pad)

"Welcome back commanders, and it's great to see the kids again." Chief engineer Lily Shen greeted while Bradford and Dr. Tygan stood beside her. XCOM served as a sort of extended family for the triplets. Even the die-hard reapers such as Volk loved the human-viper hybrids. The operatives often played games with them, such as paintball. "We want to be heroes like mommy and daddy!" Was always their reason. While everyone found it heartwarming, they hoped the children would never have to take a life. "Shen, Bradford, Tygan, it's good to-." Jarik was cut off by frantic radio chatter. "This is captain Black of the Houston police department! We need immediate backup! An unknown force is killing and capturing civilians!" The couple of commanders sprung into action immediately. They gestured to a pair of rangers for their comm units. The operatives handed them over immediately. "This is commanders Jarik and Sscantha of XCOM. What is the situation? Is it ADVENT?" They asked. The only thing they heard for about ten seconds was gunfire before captain Black responded. "Negative! It's not ADVENT! Some big gate just _appeared _on Main Street! Seconds later, thousands of, and I can't believe I'm saying this, ancient Romans reinforced by fantasy monsters began pouring out and killing and capturing everyone!"

Now the two commanders were skeptical. But they issued the order to move the _Avenger _over Houston. Just a minute later, and they saw what Black was talking about. Thousands of honest to god ancient Roman soldiers with what looked to be pigmen, orcs, ogres, and more moving through the city, destroying and stealing everything in sight. Jarik was about to issue the order to deploy troops when.

"**ROAR!"**

A man riding what looked to be a wyvern came into sight and made a beeline for Samantha, Jacob, and Kile. The two brothers moved in front of their sister and braced for the impact that never came. They opened the eyes they involuntarily closed and saw the wyvern frozen in the air, a line of psionics connecting it and their father. The ride pulled out a knife and jumped at Jarik, trying to avenge his mount that was put in stasis. He was intercepted, however, by Sscantha's tongue, which pulled him into her coils. Instead of playing with her prisoner like most vipers, Sscantha quickly snapped the man's neck. Jarik closed his fist, and the wyvern's neck was snapped as well. "Get all S.P.A.R.K.s and troops on the ground now. Bradford, take the kids inside and don't let them out of your sight. If it's not native to earth and doesn't look important, gun it down." Jarik ordered before taking one of the rangers storm gun and the fusion blades on his back before jumping off the _Avenger _and casting sustain on himself.

Jarik landed on what appeared to be an officer, killing the man. He jumped to the side fast enough to dodge a downward slash from a soldier and fired a shot into the what appeared to be a demihuman. He then pulled out one of the fusion blades and began blasting people away and cleaving them with plasma. He lobbed the other fusion blade at an archer trying to get a potshot on him. The ax cut the man's head in two and lodged itself in a skyscraper behind him. A soldier was about to run the commander through from behind when a beam of green plasma burned a hole in the Roman's chest. Jarik looked up to see Firebrand with his wife, the viper king, and as many XCOM operatives as it could physically fit. Ropes came out the back of Firebrand and the group came down guns blazing. Sscantha came up to her husband and smacked him upside the head. "You're inside, you know that right?" She sarcastically asked. Jarik chuckled and kissed Sscantha on the lips, catching her off guard. "It's part of my charm." He said before running off.

(A minute later, area around the gate)

Jarik peered at the gate from his spot on top of a building, and saw red. He saw men and children being shoved into caged carriages without proper medical care, but what enraged him was seeing these invaders having their way with the woman. He jumped off the building and casted sustain, crushing a soldier. They all turned to see a man with purple 'mist' coming out him, and decided charging him was the best plan of attack. They laughed and jeered at Jarik in what he assumed was Latin, and then, his psionics lashed out and killed all 50 of them. The only one left was what looked to be a noble, which Jarik promptly froze, and put in stasis. He used his psionics to rip the doors off the caged wagons as he ran to the women. As he was comforting them, the XCOM forces, led by Sscantha, turned onto the main road only to see the massacre that Jarik hadn't realized had continued.

Psionic zombies, like the one the chosen warlock had at his disposal, had killed all the grunts and incapacitated the important looking ones that had been retreating. Sscantha slithered up to her husband. "Jarik?" She asked, concerned for her mate. She placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up. "This… is wrong. ADVENT never went this far. I will find out who ordered this, and I will bring them to justice." Jarik said with conviction. Sscantha was concerned, however, she had only seen him like this just before the assault on the elder mothership. Jarik ordered Volk to send his best reapers to track down the kidnapped, to which the other man agreed instantly.

(an hour later Avenger interrogation room)

Earl Lynch, son of Zachary and Jamie Lynch and heir to the Lynch noble family woke up to see himself in a grey room, light shining down from above. He was handcuffed to the chair he sat in and across a table sat Jarik and Sscantha, both giving him glares that could kill (a little less for Jarik, as he could probably do that). "What's your name?" Jarik sharply asked, still clearly upset with the invaders. '_Oh this will be fun.'_ Earl thought to himself, thinking about how he will get a rise from this man, not knowing how dangerous he really is. "Earl Lynch, heir to the Lynch family and richer than you can ever be peasant." The nobleman taunted. Jarik merely raised an eyebrow, before asking another question. "Why did you attack, capture, kill, and rape civilians?" He harshly asked. Earl was confused, was that not normal? Never the less, he answered. "For slave labor and honor, of course. The killing was to instill fear, and the raping was to break their wills." Jarik remained silent for a moment. Sscantha was enraged, but that was outmatched by her fear for what her mate would do to this man. That was answered when Jarik's psionics broke the handcuffs, which were meant to hold a _berzerker_ if needed, grabbed Earl by the throat, and slammed him into the wall. Jarik got up, walked over to the nobleman, and grabbed him by the face so he had to look the commander in the eyes. "Honor? _Honor?!_ Where is the honor in cutting down people who can't defend themselves? One of your men was about to have his wyvern eat my kids, three nine-year-olds, without hesitation! Where is the _honor _in that?! If you weren't important, I would gut you where you stood, and let you bleed out, as that would be the only justice. But as it stands, your a hostage, you have some worth to us, so hope and pray that I don't find a reason to introduce you to the grim reaper." Jarik monologed. He dropped the now shaking noble, and went to leave. Sscantha followed after calling some guards to escort Earl back to his cell.

Jarik stopped in the doorway, and gave the nobleman a backward glance. "You made a mistake comming through that gate with hostile intentions, as it leads to a world that knows war like a sibling. We've fought all manner of enemies, and when our people are threatened, we don't know the meaning of mercy." He stated darkly. And with that, he left. '_Whoever ordered this attack, may God have mercy on your soul. Because I just ran out of it.'_ was his thoughts as he walked to his room on the _Avenger_ to get some rest. He had a invasion to enact, and civilians to save.

(LINE BREAK)

**Well then, that got darker than I expected. In case your wondering, no, he will not just simply kill emperor Molt, he was just enraged beyond rational thought at the time. I mean, he spent **_**YEARS**_ **saving humanity from the elders and ADVENT, and watching these midevil assholes trying to make all that go up in smoke? Anybody with the personality I'm giving would make a berzerker look calm in that situation. So yeah, a psionic that is very, very protective of his planet is about to show Falmart the true meaning of the words 'military might' and 'power,' so may the gods have mercy, 'cause XCOM wants the debt owed to be paid in full.**


	2. Heaven's fury

**Please read the AN at the bottom.**

**Here we are, at the beginning of XCOM's assault on Falmart. Now I only realized that I forgot to give descriptions of Jarik and Sscantha's clothes a week after I made this story, oops. Anyway, Jarik wears a knee-length bomber jacket over a black XCOM shirt with jeans and brown combat boots. Sscantha wears a white short sleeved shirt and a black choker, and that's it because she's a viper. Anyway, onto the solitary review!**

**EliteNoobNZ: thank you!**

**Anyway, let's begin!**

4(LINE BREAK)

It's been a month since the gate appeared in the capital of Texas. During this time, Jarik and Sscantha have been hard at work getting support from the still-recovering UN and recruiting new soldiers. The USA was more than willing to lend XCOM their supplies and weapons. Thanks to this, the organization had various tanks, APCs, helicopters, and other things at their disposal. But now the time for preparation is over, and retaliation is at hand. Jarik walked into the proving ground, to see the unique armor he had asked Shen to make for him. It was a suit of warden armor, but with a piece attaching the helmet to the torso. The gauntlets were those of the chosen warlock, able to channel psionic energy without the need for an amp. He put it on and placed the Assassin's shotgun, Arashi, on his hip. Her katana and dagger found their home on Jarik's back.

He exited the proving ground to see his wife waiting for him in her combat gear. Her armor was made to encompass her entire form with red lights down the length of the armor, granting no weak points to attack. Her custom plasma burst rifle was on the back of her waist, while she herself was holding the helmet in her left hand. "Time to go." Jarik said, to which his mate nodded and put her helmet, the eyes lighting up red. They rode Firebrand down to the area in front of the gate, where the entirety of XCOM was waiting and a stage was set up. A few feet away, beside the gate, was a memorial for those who were killed. He removed his helmet as he walked onto the stage and towards a podium. Setting down his helmet, he spoke.

"For ten years, we, as human and viper-kind, have lived in peace. ADVENT routed, the elders slain. For ten years, our earth has been at peace. But now, the leaders this 'empire' has come to slaughter and enslave us. And XCOM, earth's ever-vigilant sword, and shield shall be there standing tall once more. We will cross through this gate and bring those responsible to justice. We lost three hundred seventy-four innocent souls to their blades. Even more, taken as slaves. We shall avenge the fallen, and liberate the taken. Today marks the start of operation Titan's wrath! VIGILO CONFIDO!" With the end of Jarik's speech, he put his helmet back on and moved to the front of the convoy, and stood on the lead APC. And then the army began to move.

The inside of the gate was… interesting. It was midnight black, but there was what appeared to be stars shining on all sides. Once they reached the other side, there was a massive camp surrounding the gate. The APCs unloaded and man, viper, and machine got into positions, the tanks aiming their turrets at the camp. And with the sound of thunder,

Earth made her wrath known.

(The capital of the Empire meeting room)

Emperor Mort Sol Augustus's eye twitched under its eyelids. He had been listening to his nobles bickering for the past thirty minutes. Eventually, he got fed up with it. "Enough!" He shouted. Immediately, they were all silenced, and looking to their leader. "Have the vassal states attack Alnus hill. Their sheer numbers will crush the invaders." He ordered. Intentionally wording to make it seem the attack was unprovoked. While internally he was furious. "_Damn you Zorzal," _he thought to himself. "_Damn you for telling the nobles to just blindly attack the other side of the gate. And damn them for just blindly following your orders. Now I have to go along with your plan, and if the few soldiers that returned are anything to go by, they can slaughter us without trying."_

(A week later, vassal state camp)

The kings of the vassal states were arguing with each other, trying to claim the glory of leading the army for themselves. All except one, who knew that this was a play to both defeat the people from beyond the gate and weaken the armies of the vassal states. Unbeknownst to them, there were people listening in. Elena "Outrider" Dragunova and several reapers were just outside the tent. "Executioner to homebase, targets in range. Permission to initiate operation berserk?" She asked through her earpiece. The voice of Sscantha came through, completely neutral. "Permission granted." With that, the team of reapers lifted the back end of the tent and opened fire.

Tranq darts logged themselves into the leaders. The reapers quickly grabbed the now unconscious leaders and dragged them to Firebrand, who had stealthily landed behind the camp. Instead of taking the same route, however, it flew directly over the camp. Elena smirked under her mask as she made a show of pulling her captive into the VTOL craft. The army, desperate to save their leaders, quickly mobilized and chased after Firebrand. They didn't realize their folly until a red flash followed by smoke ripped through a dozen soldiers in a row. Lasers began streaking from Alnus hill, ignoring any and all attempts the primitive army made to defend themselves.

(With XCOM)

Jarik smiled grimly as he saw what could only be described as a wall of death be launched at the opposing force. This wasn't their fight, but were dragged into it anyway. The attacking army quickly realized that if they remained, they were certainly going to die. They ran en masse, not caring for the consequences for their justified cowardice. Eventually, there were none left, to only things in sight were either dead or fleeing.

(A week later)

After Jarik and Sscantha were sure the remains of the opposing army had fully run and not just regrouped, they decided it would be a good idea to meet the less hostile locals. There was a small problem with that, however. Not one singular soul in XCOM knew how to speak Latin. Shen solved this with a translator that went into an operator's ear. With him, Jarik brought his best soldiers. As he walked up to the APC's they were going to use, he mentally listed them off

Luca "Deadlock" Cancellara, the best sharpshooter in XCOM sat in the Icarus armor with Darklance on his back and Darkclaw on his hip. Beside Luca was his partner and XCOM's best PsyOp David "Midnight" Michell in a wraith suit and the disruptor rifle on his back. He had short black hair and brown eyes. Next to him sat Geralt "Witcher" Grimm, the commander's best heavy gunner. He sat in a W.A.R. suit with his beam cannon, named venom after his viper wife, sitting in front of him. He was an Australian man with naturally white hair and brown eyes. He also always wore a hat with one side folded up and bullets on it, mostly as a joke. Beside him sat Elena "Outrider" Dragunova, the ever stoic reaper had her vektor rifle on her back and her mask on, her arms crossed.

Across from her sat Haver "Genius" Perez, XCOM's top specialist. His gremlin hovered beside him as he sat in his wraith suit. He was a Spanish man with dirty blond hair and blue eyes alongside an almost infectious smile. Beside him sat Hibiki "Bandit" Palmer in the R.A.G.E. suit. A bald African-American woman that was also a ranger. Her plasma boltcaster was in front of her and her fusion axes were on her back. Beside her sat the Templar known as James "Warlock" Grey. He had his purple Templar uniform's sleeves ripped off, showing his veins, which pulsed with psionic energy. Next to him was a normal looking viper and husband to Geralt, Jane "Hunter" Grimm. She wore a warden suit modified to fit her reptilian form. Her plasma rifle was on her back. The final person Jarik was bringing with him was actually his wife. Sscantha sat in her custom combat suit without a helmet. She was wearing the black choker that Jarik got her for her birthday.

Jarik entered then walked to the front of the lead APC while operatives got in the other APCs, which had his elite team onboard and hopped on the comms. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts and be ready for anything. We may be coming in peace, unlike the elders, but the locals might not like us." He said. He turned around as the convoy began to move…

Only for a viper tongue to wrap itself around his waist. "Damnit." Was all he said before he was pulled to the back of the APC and into the coils of Sscantha. The viper queen's tail constricted, just enough for the restriction of movement. Jarik was turned to face his wife, who he gave an annoyed glare. "So now I have your undivided attention," Sscantha began. "I was thinking. Now that we're away from the kids, why don't we have some 'private time' to ourselves?" She said with a _very _sultry tone. Jarik, however, only got more annoyed. "You do realize we are in public right?" The commander deadpanned, gesturing to the others in the APC with his head. Said XCOM troopers were struggling to hold in their snickers. Sscantha wasn't deterred, her grin in fact only grew. "Oh don't be like that." She said, running a hand down Jarik's cheek. The commander's eye twitched as even more annoyance was added to his glare. He sighed in resignation and lost the glare. "Later, ok? We're on a mission right now, and I'd rather not do that in public. I'm still somewhat respected by these guys." Jarik said, much to the amusement of the others in the APC. "...I'm ok with that." Sscantha said after a moment, uncoiling her tail from around Jarik. But instead of releasing her mate, she pulled him into her lap and held him there. The end of her tail coiled around his ankles and she rested her head on his. Jarik let out, surprisingly enough, a content sigh. '_This is actually really nice.'_ Jarik thought to himself as he closed his eyes. '_Might as well get some sleep.` _And with that, he drifted off into unconsciousness.

(Unknown amount of time later)

Jarik was awoken by something wet and smooth going down his face. His eyes opened to the mischievous face of his wife, her tongue returning to her mouth. "Really?" He asked, rubbing the saliva off his face with his hand. Sscantha smirked. "Well we're going to arrive at the first town soon, so I needed to wake you up. And your scent might as well be a drug for me." She explained casually as she released him. Jarik sighed in exasperation as he stood up and waited.

(One minute later)

The Village's name was Coda, and the people there were very accepting. The group immediately hit it off with the villagers, Sscantha talking with her fellow mothers. The village elder told them of an honest to god elf village in the forest that Firebrand had missed when she did recon. They parted ways and went in the direction of the elven village, but what awaited them was, well…

"Is that a fucking dragon?" Luca asked aloud. Indeed, there was what appeared to be a massive, fire breathing dragon was torching the exact location of the village. The married commanders grimaced, knowing they could do nothing to save the inhabitants. Evidently, the dragon decided it had torched the land enough and flew off with a roar. "Let's move in, there might be survivors." Jarik ordered, and the members of XCOM got back into the APCs. they arrived in the burned town a minute later. They exited the APCs with their guns raised, just in case they ran into any scavengers. "Shen, can you find any life signs?" Sscantha asked over the comms. "_No, I can't find anything on the scanners except the bodies." _Was the slightly sad reply. The viper queen then nodded to her mate, who began to seek out mental presences with his psionics. He didn't do this often, as it tended to freak the people he finds out. "Found someone, a girl in the well." He said, prompting Haver to go over to said well, look in, and then jump down. At the bottom was an elven girl with long blond hair and a green tunic. Genius's gremlin scanned her then displayed what it had discovered to him. "Shit, boss she isn't doing well. Her body temp is in the danger zone and she has a cracked skull from the fall. I can't treat her down here, gonna need Luca the get her out of here." Haver cursed.

Said sharpshooter ran over and jumped into the well without hesitation, picked the girl up, and used the Icarus armor to fly her out. Genius used his grapple to get out and ran over to the girl, who had been placed on the floor of one of the APCs. he pulled the medgun from his waist and sprayed it on the girl, and let his gremlin scan her again after a few moments. He then grabbed the APC's medkit and opened it. Pulling out a pair of cloth scissors, he quickly cut the girl's clothes off, everyone else looking away out of respect, and the married ones in fear of their wives wrath. Without a word, Genius went into the APC and grabbed the emergency blanket and wrapped the girl in it. "Alright, with time, I think she'll live. But the question is, what do we do with her?" Haver asked, looking to Jarik. The commander looks to his wife, silently asking several questions.

He looked back to his men, his mind made up. "We'll take her to Coda village and ask them if they can take care of her. If not, well, she'll become the first elf with a US citizenship." Jarik said with a shrug. The team nodded in understanding, not questioning their commander's at times… odd methods, as they had saved their lives more than once. Got back into the APCs and turned around and returned to Coda. The village elder went up to Jarik. "Why have you returned?" he asked kindly. "There was a dragon. The elven village is gone, burnt to a crisp, except for one girl. We were hoping you could take her in." Jarik said. The town immediately scrambled and began to gather their possessions. "I'm truly sorry. But we can't, not while that fire dragon is out there. Now that it has tasted elven flesh, it will be on the hunt for both man and elves." the old man explained. Jarik frowned but nodded in understanding. "We can escort you to a safe location." Jarik offered, which the elder accepted. The commander began to walk back to his men, preparing to tell them the news.

(LINE BREAK)

**This took way longer then it needed to, but I procrastinated to hell and back about finishing it. But the good news is I passed my finals! *Party poppers* anyway, the elite team is actually mine from my first successful WotC run. With Luca being my top killer with over 150 kills (you can guess who is going to be interested in him). Onto business, what should the people of Falmart call XCOM? I need help with this as any I thought of didn't really make sense.**

**That's all, I'll see you, wonderful people next time!**


	3. calm before the storm

**Well, the evac of Coda is underway, something XCOM is unfortunately well-versed in. Anyway, onto the reviews.**

**Wacko12 and guest1: I'll be honest, I kinda forgot about the skirmishers. I didn't use them all that much after I got Luca, as I didn't really need them, seeing as the man could 1v1 a sectopod**

**Guest2: you make an excellent point friend! And my workaround for this problem is I am going to make Prince Megazord or whatever (who I am making the antagonist) the worst excuse of a human in existence. Like, he is going to be the dark Eldar of humans if you understand Warhammer 40,000.**

**CGOLChris: Thank you kind sir!**

**Now then, unto the breach**

* * *

The team was doing their best to help the villagers of Coda get their things together. Every now and then a villager would try to bring more things than they needed, only for the attempt to be shot down by the veteran XCOM team. The villagers would get angry, and the operatives could only off their sympathy, as they knew the consequences of carrying too much. Out of nowhere, the sound of wood breaking was heard. Evidently, a family had slipped stuff by, and had broken the wagon's axle doing so. The horse that was to pull it was writhing on the ground while a little girl was lying hurt nearby. Haver was quick to run over and help, his gremlin already scanning her.

"You're a healer?" A female voice asked. It originated from a young girl with blue hair and green eyes. She wore robes and held a staff, almost as if she was some sort of mage. This was Lelei La Lalena, an apprentice mage. Suddenly the horse that was on the ground earlier reared up, about to crush the bluenette. '_This… is how I die?'_ She mentally asked, everything seemingly moving in slow motion. But instead of pain, Lelei heard a loud bang, and the horse fell dead, a hole the size of a fist in its head. Turning around, she saw Luca with Darkclaw in his hand, before returning it to its holster.

Not long after that, the village was ready to leave, escorted by XCOM, some of the children sitting in the APC. Jarik then put a hand to the comms unit in his ear. "Shen, I want Raptor squad in the air. Their target is a literal, fire breathing dragon." He ordered. And to her credit, the chief engineer was shocked for a few seconds before chalking it up as the fantasy world they were on being a fantasy world. Lily went over to the PA system that was in the large tent that was her temporary workshop. "Raptor squadron get in your birds, your going dragon hunting." She said. Soon enough, Shen heard the sound of jet engines igniting. Since earth was freed, XCOM had got much more funding, more then what they knew what to do with. So they formed branches. They had a navy, an artillery division, and of course an air force. These duties fell to the Skirmishers, as the ADVENT troopers were made to be jacks of all trades.

They used the F-45 velociraptors, a VTOL descendant of the F-22 raptor. With the use of Elerium, the amount of space a fuel tank needed was greatly reduced, allowing for more ammo, electronics, and other things. As for a physical description, it was similar to its predecessor, only that the wings were front-facing and its air intake vents were somewhat larger. Regardless, the three plane squad took off, quickly breaking the sound barrier.

Back with the convoy, they had begun to cross a large grassy plain. Luca was on top of the APC, looking through the scope of the Darklance when he saw something. "Heads up, an abnormally large flock of… I want to say ravens to our twelve." He said over the radio with a slight French accent. Everyone looked to see what Luca was talking about, and there was indeed a large flock of black birds. And once they crested a small hill, they saw someone sitting in the center of the flock. A small girl in a black and red dress with long black hair and red eyes with a quite frankly disturbing smile. Beside her sat a massive halberd. "Stop." Jarik ordered. The convoy stopped, but much to the commander's surprise, a bunch of kids jumped out of their carts as well as the APC and ran to the girl without a care in the world, shouting "priestess" as they went.

With the gothic-themed girl, she smiled warmly at the children. No matter how many years pass, Rory always enjoys interacting with kids, their simple views of the world being a breath of fresh air from all of the praise that comes with being an apostle of Emory. Though she _was _suspicious of the weird horseless carriage that was leading the line of normal wagons. But she was blessed by the god of death, there was little doubt in her mind that she could take care of these strange people. "Who are these people? Are they forcing you out of your homes?" She asked one child, a boy with orange hair and steel grey eyes. He shook his head, the smile never leaving his face. "No, they're helping us escape the fire dragon. Their horseless carriage is very comfortable!" He explained. Rory grimaced. The legendary beast was part of the god of the earth Hardy's latest plan to make her his bride, despite Rory not wanting anything to do with the perverted troglodyte of a god.

Shaking her head to clear it of the thought, Rory looked at the people in their weird carriage, and her eyes widened somewhat in shock. Each and every one of them had a large amount of death rolling off of them, as if they all single-handedly slaughtered armies. Her eyes went to one that was dismounting the walled roof of the carriage, and felt a wave of euphoria hit her. The man _reeked_ of death, more than the others. She watched him open a door on the front side of the carriage, and sit down after the one that was previously sitting there took his place on the roof of the carriage. "Comfortable you say?" She said, gaining a smile as she stood up. She began to walk towards the convoy.

Jarik got out of the APC and walked in front of it. "Who are you?" he asked. Rory met his gaze with her ever-present confident smirk, and Jarik could _feel_ the age that radiated from the gothic girl. "Rory Mercury, apostle of Emory, goddess of death." She said simply before walking past him. Jarik sat there for a moment, his mind processing the fact that he had just encountered what was essentially a demigod. This also suggested that _gods_ exist here, and demons in theory.

"_que se passe-t-il?!"_

'_Oh thank god, a distraction from my latest existential crisis.' _The commander thought, turning to see whatever idiotic situation his operatives had gotten themselves into this time. Once he entered the APC, he was treated to the sight of Rory's halberd laid carefully next to the elf girl, while the apostle herself was sitting in Luca's lap, said Frenchman spewing curses in his native language. The rest of the squad was laughing at the marksman's expense. "I didn't realize you were a lolicon, Luca!" David said, causing the laughter to intensify.

"_Hé, va te faire foutre!"_ Luca snapped, sounding rather flustered. He turned to the girl in his lap, who looked rather content there. "Can you please get off of me?" He asked Rory. Said apostle held her finger to her chin as if considering it before responding. "No, I don't think I will." she shrugged, then leaned into Luca and closed her eyes.

Luca let out a resigned sigh. "_Merde"_ was all he said, knowing damn well that he was never going to live this down.

* * *

**ANNND DONE! God, I really procrastinated on wrapping this up for a while, why do I do this to myself. And on top of that, it is 2:11 at the time of writing this AN, I need professional help. Anyway, I wanted to get to the dragon by now, but I couldn't get that far, so you all will just have to wait~.**

**Goodbye, friends.**


	4. sorry

Hey guys, sorry to say, but this whole "stay at home" thing has me real messed up, and I just can't find the motivation to do anything productive. So I don't think this story, or any story of mine, will get a new chapter in a while, so their all gonna go on indefinite hiatus until I get my motivation back. To hold you all over though, I'll be making a "story" over on my wattpad account godhelpme1. I put story in air quotes as it will just be my insane ramblings and ideas for stories far in the future, as well as a sort of indefinite Q&A. Come over and visit if you want, see you soon soldiers.


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